I'm just an average person who happens to run a little. I've done a few 5k's, which is amazing in itself. You followed my half-marathon training with me, now I'm training for my first full marathon! Come with me on this journey.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Changed Form and PT

I've been getting antsy while trying to NOT run before I went to PT this week. It's a new year and our running group has a weight loss challenge going. Running has been a great source of weight loss for me and I've been anxious to get back to it. Tuesday last week I decided to give it a go again. It was a nice day so I ran outside. I was able to eke out one mile and was disappointed. I walked for 1/4 mile than decided to attempt running again, despite the pain in my ankle. But this time, I thought I might try the proper running form. See, I've never actually been taught how to run or had someone study my form. I've been told that you're supposed to run on the balls of your feet towards your toes but I've never paid any attention to it since it worked for me the way I was running (probably landing flat footed). Once I started running again, the ankle was pain-free while I ran on my toes. My calves were killing me, but in a good way.

Then I decided to run a second day during the week, which has always been my downfall with the ankle. Thursday, I did the same thing, correcting my running form and other than the calf pain, I felt great! My ankle was virtually pain-free. Same thing on Sunday when I ran. I was able to run 3 miles, 3 days this week. I'm ecstatic! Perfect timing because it's the first week of my half marathon training plan.

Today I saw a PT for my ankle pain. I explained to him what I was feeling, when and where. He poked and prodded, twisted and turned, I walked and balanced. It appears my Achilles' tendon on my right leg is tighter than the other one and not as flexible. On top of that, my right leg seemed a bit shorter, but turns out my hip was rotated back, making it appear to be shorter and out of alignment. He did some adjustments for that, gave me some stretches and strengthening exercises and gave me the okay to run on my own. I go back next week and hopefully things will get better and continue to improve.

By the way, the foam roller is awesome. My calves were killing me after Thursday's run. I didn't do anything about it but after Sunday's run I used the foam roller. Less than 10 minutes, but it worked wonders! No lasting effects from the run. We'll see what tomorrow's run brings.